We renovated an old clawfoot tub which had rim-mounted faucets, so our options were limited. But we got a very similar style for the sink and the tub faucets. The sink faucet (polished nickel) is from Harrington Brass and the tub faucet (chrome) was from Sign of the Crab - both Victorian style with cross-handles. I wanted to mix the polished nickel and chrome, but if you want the styles and finishes to match, I am pretty sure that Sign of the Crab has coordinating units.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sign of the Crab

If you're wanting an ond-fashioned look, IMO, either chrome or polished nickel would be the most appropriate finishes anyway. And chrome has such a price advantage...

What are your reasons for wanting something else?

Personally I think it's just fine to get a clawfoot tub faucet that is sort of "standalone" and isn't from the same "suite" as the rest of the faucets in the room - at least that's what we did. It's not installed yet but here is our clawfoot tub faucet. There was an option to get it with porcelain lever handles instead of the porcelain cross handles so we did that, so it's not exactly as shown but looks even MORE like the "matching" Rohl faucet, but it's an American Bath factory faucet. It was recommended by the folks at vintage tub & bath as a good quality less expensive faucet (only available in chrome, the similar same brand option in more finishes is twice as much - they told me it was the same quality, just a little more "no frills" which suits me fine):

Here is the Rohl tub faucet for 3x the price from the same line as our sink faucets:

{{gwi:1393365}}

Here is our sink faucet:

I think back in the day there weren't whole suites of plumbing hardware. There were a few utilitarian designs that are reproduced today in vintagey looking faucets and I think as long as you stick in general with vintagey looking stuff in the same finish, it's fine. I think if you are going for somewhat period either chrome or polished nickel is fine. I went with chrome to save a little money and because rohl has more difficult recommended maintenance on polished nickel than on chrome and I'm all about easy.

I hit submit too fast... I also meant to say that the Rohl exposed tub faucet I showed is from the same line as the sink faucet - I'm not sure that's clear. They are both from the Rohl Country line. It's not real obvious from the pictures since they are different finishes and different handle styles. I guess that's my point, that most clawfoot tub faucets are so similar looking to each other that it won't look strange to have any of them in there even if it's not from the same "suite" as your sink faucets. I think this is ok even if your sink faucets are also wall mounted.

The one thing I wouldn't do is mix too many similar but different elements - like I wouldn't have one type of a cross handle on your sink faucet and another type on your tub faucet, which is why I went for the lever faucet option on the tub faucet rather than the porcelain cross shown. But I would stick with the same finish on all of your faucets and not mix, especially any kind of nickel (polished or brushed) with chrome.

OK, hope I haven't goofed. We are doing a vintage style master bathroom. My dilema... I have chrome faucets in all my bathrooms. Wanted to just do classic look. I bought light sconces for master bath from Pottery Barn and bought them in polished nickel. we are having white pedestal sinks and espresso inset medicine cabinets and the sconces will be above the medicine cabinets. Will the chrome faucets and the polished nickel sconces clash. I am worried about this. The pottery barn lady said she couldn't really tell the difference between the two, but I couldn't tell if she was just telling me this because the polished nickel she had in the store and would have had to order the chrome sconces. what do you think? Do I need to take the sconces back and get chrome. The faucets are staying! Thanks alot.

Whether it bugs you or not is really up to you. Both are "silver" but polished nickel is warm and chrome is cool. If you hold them right next to each other you will DEFINITELY notice a difference. Further apart, it depends on the person. :) Some will, some won't.

In my opinion (and maybe only my opinion) chrome faucets are kind of a "neutral" and don't need to be "matched" for the lighting. I've seen chrome mixed successfully with all kinds of metals (though I would still keep all of my faucets the same finish - just my taste). Again the problem with nickel is that it's close but not 100% and you need to know your tolerance for that. In my kitchen I have a chrome faucet and brushed nickel pulls and knobs and that doesn't bother me, but the brushed nickel is a significantly different finish from the chrome.

If it were me and it's not too much of a hassle at this point (since they are not installed) I would return it and order the chrome one because it would bug me forever. Really though you should take it into a room that has chrome faucets and hold it up and see if it bugs you. Also some nickel finishes are richer and warmer than others so it may not be as huge a difference. You're the one who has to live with it so please yourself!

Thanks for the responses.

The more I think about using chrome, the more I think I like it. Sweeby, I think you're correct that it's a more appropriate finish for an old fashioned look, which is what I want. I had seen some fixtures, with old/antique copper finish, that I loved and was trying to put together a whole set of fixtures. But I think chrome will be better all together, and it'll be easier and cheaper to get fixtures that go together and that I like.

aunttomichael - are you happy with your faucets? I had looked at Sign of the Crab briefly and thought they looked really good, but hadn't heard anything about them. Apparently they also go by Strom Plumbing?

kgwlisa - I think your faucet choices are great, and I think that your idea of using levers on the tub instead of using similar but different cross handles on tub and sink is a smart way to go. I've also looked at the American Bath Factory faucets and thought they looked good. Is the Harrington Brass company considered a good one to buy faucets from also?

tudorlover - I thing having the light fixture in polished nickel will be fine. In my powder room I tried and didn't like the look of brushed nickel faucet and chrome towel racks and TP holder, because they were so close together and there was a big contrast in the finishes. But a polished nickel light fixture should work nicely with just about other finish, including the chrome.

One more question... Has anyone used or heard anything about faucets from Baths From The Past? I think they look great but I can't find out anything about them.